Exposure
by Janika
Summary: Sissy is getting really fed up with her cousin and will go to any lengths to ruin Janika. Unfortunately, XANA attacks during the embarrassing episode and the gang is nearly helpless... 3rd episode
1. Revealed

**_Post-production note: everything was written during and after season 1 and since there was that year-long lag-time I had no choice but to make up stuff on my own._**

**3-1: Revealed**

**Sissy's cousin, Janika, joined the gang on accident when she hacked into Jeremy's computer and eventually found her way into Lyoko. X.A.N.A. has already stolen a couple ideas from her laptop and used them against the gang, but now she's just having trouble fitting in at school when the evil computer strikes again...**

**I am begging on my knees here! I need more ideas if you guys want Janika to survive through Writer's Block Tribulation. If you don't she'll be gone, so I'm sending out my final plea: Give me your troubles, your woes and I'll make them hers.**

Janika scowled and kicked at the bench where her bookbag should have been. She had searched high and low for the last two hours with no luck. She'd lost all her homework and even her diary was missing. Silently she hoped no one had read it.

With a sigh, the dark-haired girl started walking toward the dorms. Maybe someone dropped it off at the Lost & Found. As she approached, a group of girls started snickering and a few glared. One had to cover her mouth to keep from snorting. There was no doubt she was the butt of their joke, whatever it was.

Feeling her face beginning to heat up, Janika raced past them into the building. As she was leaning against the wall to calm herself, a pair of boys came down. When they saw her, one winked and the other made kissing-noises. Her blush escalated to 200 degrees and she fled up the stairwell.

Hiding her flaming face, she made it to her floor. Unfortunately there were a dozen girls in the hall outside her door, all talking. When they caught sight of her, nearly every single one grew silent and glowered.

"Is it true?" "I had no idea you liked him. Too bad he's taken." "Nice artwork, Cheetah." "Give me a break! I've _never_ seen such lousy—"

Janika could only gawk as she was swarmed by the flock of girls. The comments were getting worse.

"—really think you're better than us, don't you?" "You're not even _from_ here!" "Yeah, your parents are a couple of losers who dumped you off." "If you hate this school so much, then why don't you just leave?"

Someone yanked her braid and another grabbed her arm, digging sharp fingernails into her skin. They were getting really physical. Janika tried to free herself, but the girls were pushing and shoving now, preventing her escape. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to cry.

Suddenly the noise died down and the crowd parted. Yumi muscled her way through the mob, a dangerous glint in her eye. Several girls winked at each other, sure there was going to be a catfight. She stopped in front of Janika and abruptly pushed the ones holding her.

"_What_ is going on here?" She directed it toward the dozen girls who shuffled their feet nervously. "Get out."

Yumi didn't raise her voice. She didn't have to; it carried tremendous power and a serious threat. With many sidelong glances, they all left.

Janika unlocked her door and Yumi followed her inside. Her face was livid. "Mind telling me what _this_ is?" she thrust a booklet of Xeroxed papers at her.

The dark-haired girl gasped as she recognized her own crude sketch of a cheetah on the front. It was awful. One of her first attempts when she was younger. She took the booklet and flipped through, finding entries from her diary everywhere. They were mostly ones describing Kadic and the people who annoyed her. She swallowed forcibly. Whoever had done this had wanted revenge for _something_.

She looked at her friend. "Everyone in school has read this, I take it?"

"I would say so. You said some pretty harsh things."

"Did you read it too?"

Yumi put her hand on Janika's shoulder. "Just the first two pages, then I saw your name. That's when I realized a lot of people might be after you. Looks like I got there just in time."

She rubbed her scalp, favoring the tender spot where her braid had been jerked. "Thank you. I didn't write anything about Lyoko. I thought it might be dangerous."

"Well, I would say you might be in danger anyway. You insulted a lot of cliques, and they don't take too kindly to narrow-minded people."

"I'll be fine, Yumi. I just need to stay out of the way for a while. Could you bring me some food later tonight? I don't think I'll be leaving my room anytime soon."

(V)

Jeremy gaped at the paper. "I had no idea she liked opera. Did you?"

Odd shook his head. "Nope. I guess she's more colorful than we thought. But the skaters are going to be really ticked off if they get wind of this entry about her opinion of their off-campus jackets," he chuckled.

"Where did you get these, Odd? You must have twenty of them."

"They were in the cafeteria. I took the entire stack before anyone else came in."

"Why?"

"Probably because she wouldn't want anyone knowing her personal thoughts, Jeremy."

"Yeah, but _you're_ reading her 'personal thoughts'."

"I'm her friend. I have an excuse." He could tell his pal had zoned out. The paper was just too interesting.

Odd was sipping from a Coke as he read and suddenly started sputtering. Jeremy jumped up and started pounding him on the back. The blonde kid shoved him away and pointed to the paper.

"Did you read this!"

"Oh, _sick!_ You sprayed Coke all over it! Did that come out of your _nose?_"

"Jeremy, just read the fourth paragraph on page seven. Tell me what you see."

The other boy picked up a different, cleaner paper and flipped to the page. His eyes widened.

"Oh my... I really hope Yumi hasn't gotten hold of one of these. She might get physical with Janika." He looked at Odd. "Did you know they went on a date?"

"And why would I know that?"

"Because you're Ulrich's roommate! Did they really?"

Odd shrugged. "They went walking one night. That's all I know. Sissy came by a few minutes later to pester him, but I told her he had gone with Janika." His eyebrows shot up. "Do you think Sissy did this?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. She's more likely than anyone. It is kind of cruel, though." Jeremy sighed. "Well, Janika's life is ruined. Every club in school will be after her. She mentioned every one of them and I can't find a single thing that they wouldn't be offended by in here."

Odd was busy wiping Coke off his copy. "Well, what are we going to do?"

The computer nerd shrugged. What _could_ they do?


	2. Cruel Truth

**3-2: Cruel Truth**

**I would like to give credit to _The Bringer of Good Cheer_ for inspiring me to make Sissy so evil. For those of you who read Meredith Ann Pierce, here's my tribute to her Firebringer series (I encourage everyone who can read to check out her works).**

(((-2-)))

Ulrich saw Sissy batting her lashes in his direction. He rolled his eyes and went back to reading. She wasn't dissuaded. "Yoo-hoo! What are you doing, Ulrich? That must be a good book if it's worth your time. What's it called? Birth of the Firebringer, huh?"

"It's pretty good. Janika lent it to me."

Wisps of steam wafted out of her ears, but she regained her composure quickly. "You mean to say you haven't heard about her? There have been papers circulating all over—"

He cut her off. "I talk to her every day. Why do I need to hear about her from you?"

"Every...day?" she asked through clenched teeth. "You don't even talk to _me_ every day."

"Probably because I don't _want_ to talk to you every day. She's my friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm nearing the climax." He paused and squinted at her. "You know what? You really remind me of the evil queen in this story. Yep, just add some scales and you'd definitely look like a wyvern."

Sissy didn't know what a 'wyvern' was, but she knew it wasn't a compliment. He returned to his reading, pointedly ignoring her outraged face.

"Sure, sure. I'll let you get back to the book _my cousin_ lent you. I wouldn't want to _bother_ you. There are plenty of _other_ things for me to do. No matter that she's been telling _everyone_ that you two have been going steady."

Ulrich was on his feet in an instant. "_What?_"

"But I don't want to bother you. Bye!"

She began to skip away, certain he would follow her to find out the details. After she had gone a few yards, he still hadn't come up demanding to know the truth. Sissy turned around and saw Ulrich running toward the dorms. Her eyes narrowed.

"_Grrrrrrrr!_" These things _never_ worked out the way she planned!

The dark-haired boy passed several groups of students who laughed loudly as he came close. His cheeks were taking on a pink tinge. _What _had she done? Students on the third floor were whispering excitedly among themselves until he appeared. Some ran off covering their mouths while others stood and watched with amused expressions.

Anxiously, he knocked. Janika peered through the spy-hole and saw it was him. Her face reddened as she let him in then quickly closed the door. With a hopeless sigh she leaned against it, being sure to pull the deadbolt.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Ulrich."

"That you've been telling the whole school we've been dating?" he demanded angrily.

Confusion crossed her face. "What? I never said that! Someone stole my bookbag and has been handing out pamphlets Xeroxed from my diary. Some girls have _already_ tried to beat me up, okay? I don't need this from you too!"

Ulrich calmed down. "I apologize, but what exactly did you say?"

Her face rouged and she stuttered. "W-well...it's k-kinda hard ta say, sorta, maybe I mentioned...the night we walked—"

Someone pounded on the door. Janika ran gratefully over and peered out. Sighing with relief, she let Jeremy inside.

"Oh, hi Ulrich," the blonde boy said nervously. "Uh, could you let me talk to Janika alone?"

"I guess so. Where's Odd?"

"He's at the snack machine. Oh, if you see any weird papers floating around, don't read them." Ulrich agreed and left. Jeremy gazed at her. "Do you _really_ think I'm a klutz?"

"I wrote that back before I knew you. Sissy said you were weird and oafish. First impressions, you know, after I snuck into your room and toyed with your computer. I thought...never mind."

He shook his head. "You really shouldn't have written those things."

Janika threw up her hands and exploded, "_Why not?_ It was _my_ diary! At least I didn't jabber on about Lyoko! Would you rather I had? It probably would have made _less_ of an impression on your school!

He was getting fed up too and didn't like her attitude. "Well, maybe if you opened your eyes once in a while instead of just staring at _Ulrich_ all the time you'd notice he _already_ likes someone!"

His words echoed in her head. "I want you out of my room right this instant." Her voice was calm and composed but her eyes were sea-green fire.

Jeremy hurried to the door and ran outside. The girls were all gone, but Ulrich was standing there tapping his foot. "So you broke it to her that I like Yumi, huh? Did it ever occur to you that maybe _I_ should tell her, Jeremy?"

"Well, I wasn't sure you knew that she..." He trailed off. "Sorry."

"I can deal with it!" Ulrich stopped and realized how harsh he sounded. "I'm sorry too. I honestly don't know what to do about her. You want to go check out the comic books at the corner store?"

"Why not?"

**The dreary day has hardly begun. Mwahahahahaha!**


	3. Without Eyes

**3-3: Without Eyes**

**Of course Sissy has to be the first one to get hurt. It's inevitable, especially after the horrible thing she just did to my alter-ego! So if there are any Sissy-sympathizers out there, I have one thing to say to you:** _**HA!**_

(((-3-)))

Sissy snickered. At least her cousin's reputation was ruined (if she ever had one) and Ulrich wouldn't even think about being alone with Janika again. Ah, life was good!

With a swagger, she bounced into the teacher's lounge and went up to the Xerox machine. If only Ulrich had read the paper he would have gone looking for someone to lean on and she had intended to be right there with a waiting shoulder, but—_no!_—he just stomped off!

She pulled Janika's bookbag out from behind the copier. Sissy had never imagined her cousin would have so much to complain about. It was like a goldmine for blackmail just waiting to happen!

All she needed now was a little something extra to spice up the flavor of her rumor-pastry. Ah, yes. This humiliating confession would be the final clincher that would decimate her cousin and make her the laughingstock of the entire town! Revenge truly was sweet as Krispy Kremes.

Sissy didn't notice a thin misty cloud fade into the machine. She didn't bother to lower the hood as she held the diary face-down even though her father had always warned that it was bad for her eyesight. _Pfft!_ That was just a stupid myth like alligators living in the sewers and escalators eating little kids.

As she pressed the print button, something strange happened inside the copier. The light bar that scanned the pages seemed to intensify and slice into her eyes. The teenager shrilled and stumbled away.

Tamiya and Millie happened to be walking past (still steaming about Janika's comment on them being nosy and untrustworthy) when they heard Sissy scream. The pair of girls ran into the teacher's lounge and saw her kneeling on the floor, covering her eyes.

"Sissy? What's wrong?"

But they couldn't get a clear answer out of her. She continued to weep and wail for her father. More people were attracted to the noise, and during the confusion, nobody noticed a thin tendril of smoke waft away and vanish into the electrical socket.

(V)

Odd was coaxing the snack machine with a little brute force when he overheard Millie. "I mean, she just kept screaming. She wouldn't quit crying and her hands were covering her eyes. We couldn't get her to talk any sense."

"Yeah," Tamiya agreed. "We took her to the nurse and she sent us away, so that means it's definitely serious."

He approached the gaggle of kids surrounding the newscasters. "What happened?"

They rolled their eyes together and sighed intolerantly. "Weren't you listening? Sissy can't see. She was in the teacher's lounge when she freaked out. Who knows how it happened? We're going to investigate it. Now where were we? Oh, yeah! And so then Nurse Dorothy said..."

Odd quit listening. The teacher's lounge.

It was quiet inside with no adults around. All chairs were pushed in, the refrigerator was closed, the TV was dark, and the tables were clean. What would Sissy have been doing here? As he was casually meandering over to the fridge, Odd caught sight of a copy machine in the corner beside a large desk. He wondered if there were any test scores among the papers there.

With utmost care, the blonde boy started shuffling through the papers. They were mostly essays from one of the Literature classes. A small bookbag attracted his eye. It looked familiar.

"Isn't that Janika's?"

Indeed, the girl's homework and books were all there. He happened to look over at the copy machine and see a conspicuous 1990s 'My Little Pony' diary laying face-down. Odd picked it up and saw that something had been printed out. Curiously, he turned over the sheet of paper and a strange black symbol stared straight at him.

He grabbed everything and ran, calling Ulrich's phone. His friend answered on the third ring. "We have a little problem, Ulrich. Did you hear about Sissy?"

"Sort of. Someone saw her being placed in an ambulance five minutes ago."

"Well, she's blind, and I have a pretty good idea of how it happened. You know the teacher's lounge, right? That's where she was when Millie and Tamiya said she started screaming. Sissy was messing around with the Xerox machine and it printed out The Symbol."

"You're not joking with me, are you?"

"Why would I joke? Sissy's in the hospital and you think I'm trying to be funny?" He mounted the steps to the dorms and headed inside. "I need to find Kiwi and warn Janika. She really needs to get a cell. Where are you?"

"At the corner store just down the street from campus. Do you want me and Jeremy to meet you somewhere?"

"Nah. I'm at the room now." Odd unlocked his door and reached up to flip on the light. "I just don't understand why X.A.N.A. was messing with a Xerox mach—aaaaaahhhh!"

**I would like to thank everyone who replied to my other 2 stories for their excellent feedback, especially Half-Kittie-Half-Human for her offer to combine chars.**


	4. Out of Control

**3-4: Out of Control**

**_ZAP! _Odd has seen the light.**

(((-4-)))

Odd recoiled from the stabbing glare, covering his eyes. They were burning! He was laying on his back and kicked the door shut with his foot. Kiwi brushed up against his legs. He must have come out when Odd had fallen down. The small dog nosed his best friend's cell phone, yipping. The blonde boy kept his arm over his eyes. _Man_, they hurt!

He groped for the phone. Ulrich was shouting almost incoherently, "Odd! Where are you, man? Answer me! Odd! _Odd!_"

"I'm here, Ulrich. I think the light in the room blinded me. I have a _major_ headache and your shouting isn't helping." It felt like someone was driving nails into his eyeballs.

"Sorry. You freaked me out. Can you see at all?"

"Look, right now I don't feel like even attempting to open my eyes. If I do, I want some sunglasses. The only pair I have is in my room." Kiwi licked his friend's hand. "I'll find Janika and meet you guys outside."

"I'll buy some sunglasses for you right now, buddy. Bye!"

He heard someone walk over to him. "You okay?" It was Nicholas. He actually sounded concerned.

Odd gritted his teeth. He was willing to swallow his pride just this once. "No. I can't see. Could you get me down a floor?"

Nicholas led Odd and Kiwi to the third floor where more kids than ever had congregated to jeer at Janika. They talked loudly and Odd swore his skull was cracking in half. He shouted Janika's name over the noise and she opened the door, trying to usher him inside.

"Hurry up and get in before that rabble tries to hurl more spitwads! Odd, what's wrong?"

"We have to leave! The lights in my room nearly blinded me. Haven't yours?"

"I never turn on my lights during the day. I can't get out safely, so you just go without me. Those creeps will tear me to shreds." She peered around her friend and saw a snarling face two feet away.

With one fumbling hand he managed to grip her shoulder. "You don't seem to be grasping the point: our mutual _friend_ is trying to _blind _us! We have to get out, and _I_ _can't see!_"

Reluctantly Janika stepped outside. She put her arm around Odd and guided him back toward the stairwell with a crowd of people blocking the way.

"Look, I need to get him to the infirmary!" she screamed.

No one seemed to believe her and they all tried to slow her down. Hands grappled to lay hold of her pale orange shirt or braid and one particular girl tried to trip Janika. She barely kept Odd upright. At one point she punched a boy in the face, but the other kids decided if she could do that, they could too. The only reason she got away at all was because someone realized she had left her room unlocked and everyone tried to flood inside to wreck it.

"I sure hope you're happy, Odd!" she moaned. "I'll never get my Final Fantasy soundtracks back from that mob. And what about my DNAngel posters?!"

Ulrich and Jeremy met her halfway down the stairs. "Here's your sunglasses. Oh, and we got a couple extra pairs just in case, so everyone put them on. Hey, how did you escape the people on your floor? I would have thought they'd be after you."

Janika turned to Jeremy. "Don't ask. You know we're going to look like a bunch of FBI wannabes in these things, right?" She put the glasses on and picked up Kiwi. "He doesn't seem to be blind, but I'm sure he is. Look at his eyes."

Jeremy glanced at Kiwi and patted the dog on his head. "Dogs use their ears and noses more than their eyes. It would be like if you lost your sense of smell, Janika. It's not your primary faculty, but it's still useful and you'd definitely notice the loss."

When they got outside Odd groaned and hid his face. "It's too bright! I feel like somebody hit me in the head with a sledgehammer!"

"Where's Yumi? Didn't you call her?" Ulrich demanded.

"I thought she'd be with you. She usually is after school. Where else would she be?"

Janika looked over. "I asked her to get me something to eat since I didn't think I'd be leaving my room. She might be over at the cafeteria."

Someone inside the dorms started screaming. More screams followed. Lights came on all over the building; bright, searing lights. Jeremy watched vaguely.

"At least we're in the sun. If we happened to be inside when the lights intensified we might have lost our sight even with sunglasses."

"The cafeteria!" Ulrich took off like a bullet, speeding toward the lunchroom.

The building was blazing, just like every other place on campus. The gang followed him, Janika leading Odd, and saw chaos erupting before them. People were stumbling over each other to reach the door and everyone was clamoring for help. They tried to help by pulling people to sunlit safety, but there had been so many kids in the cafeteria that the job was nearly impossible.

Jeremy found Yumi huddled in a ball under a table. She hardly moved and he couldn't put the sunglasses over her eyes. He and Ulrich had to drag her out between them. She had been stricken completely blind.

**Great googly-moogly! How on earth can our heros continue on without Yumi or Panther-boy?**


	5. To See or Not to See?

**3-5: To See or Not to See?**

**So sad! Oh, I think there's something in my eye.**

(((-5-)))

Ulrich hugged her tight. "Please say something, Yumi!"

The girl in his arms blinked her pale eyes and stared straight through him. "I can't see anything," she whispered before collapsing with a pained whimper.

Everyone else was in the same shape, crying and wailing that their eyes hurt and they couldn't see. Jeremy stood watching them. He turned to Odd.

"You were really lucky. You were only affected partially, probably because you got out of your room quickly and closed the door. Unfortunately since you can still see slightly, you'll be in pain until we can fix this thing."

Janika looked over. "Wait, I don't understand how this is happening. How can X.A.N.A. attack us like this?"

"I can't be completely positive, but I'm guessing everyone's retinas were bleached, and the only way for that to happen is through exposure to high-intensity lights. These kids' eyeballs were just suntanned to the point that they can't see anymore." He rubbed his chin. "He might have been testing it on Sissy with the Xerox machine to see if it worked well."

Odd tried to stay steady on his feet. "_I'd_ say it works pretty darn well!"

Jeremy nodded to himself. "It's dangerous, clearly, but not necessarily lethal. I would have expected something more deadly, actually. It just confuses me that X.A.N.A. would do something like this."

Ulrich, sitting beside Yumi, turned to his friend angrily. "Jeremy, in our particular line of work, not being able to see _can_ be deadly. Especially for you since your job is completely visual. We _might_ be able to make do since Aelita is never exposed to light bulbs in Lyoko, but if _you_ can't see, we're goners. How would we even be able to get to Lyoko in order to protect her?"

He folded his arms across his chest. "We'll just have to get there and shut down the tower before X.A.N.A. tries to strike us directly."

They left Yumi at the school. They had no choice.

(V)

The factory was quiet and no other buildings in town had blazed to life, blinding anyone else. The school was the only target. So far. With all speed, the four friends reached the elevator. None of them had spoken since they left Yumi behind.

Jeremy connected to Lyoko and found Aelita promptly. "Aelita, we have an emergency."

"You mean X.A.N.A. has attacked? I haven't felt any pulsations in the Mountains. He has been attacking more constantly now, hasn't he?"

"I'll run a scan to figure out which one he's taken over this time. You go find a Tower. I want you safe." The blonde boy looked back at his friends. "I'll take care of everything here. Go on down there so I can virtualize you guys. Odd, you're not going."

"Yes I am!" he shouted. "I can see just fine. It's a little blurry and my eyes hurt a lot but I can really help. You're not going to turn me away now just because I'm _slightly_ purblind."

"I'm impressed you remembered that word from the spelling test."

Odd clenched his teeth. "Don't make me hurt you. I'm not in a good mood right now. Just virtualize me."

Heaving a hopeless sigh, Jeremy nodded. "I'll do it, but don't say I didn't warn you. I found the activated Tower in the Desert region. Aelita is going there now."

"_Thanks,_" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

They got on the lift and were lowered to the scanners. The lights were dim, but Odd refused to take off his sunglasses, saying any light was intolerable. The doors opened and all three children stepped inside.

Just as they were beginning to relax, the light bulbs grew fierce and unbearably bright! Janika shrank against the scanner's wall, hiding her eyes while Ulrich gaped and backed away. The doors closed and the kids realized nothing was happening. Jeremy couldn't send them to Lyoko without being able to see!

Could he?

(V)

Jeremy groped for his sunglasses but it was too late already. Oh, if _only_ he hadn't taken them off to see the screen! He hadn't thought about the light bulbs at the factory because they were usually so dim.

Despite the incessant hammering in his skull, the blonde boy managed to feel his way along the keyboard, slowly but determinedly. One at a time he scanned his friends into Lyoko without the use of his eyes. They were virtualized now, and it was all up to them.

**Imagine trying to type without seeing what keys you're pushing. I think it would be pretty difficult, but it's Jeremy we're talking about! Boy-genius! Besides, I'm not that good of a typist.  
**


	6. Enter Blind

**3-6: Enter Blind**

**What a pity. And they were so close, too.**

(((-6-)))

Odd landed neatly on his feet and looked over at his friends. They had fallen to the ground and lay in a heap several feet away, moaning.

"Guys? Oh man oh man oh man!" he rushed over. "I saw the lights glare, but my sunglasses helped block it. _Why_ did you have to take them off!"

Ulrich squinted and looked around. "Everything's dark."

Janika held her head and stood up unsteadily. "At least the pain is going away." She stumbled and fell to the ground. "Odd, could you help me?"

The panther-like boy took Janika by the arm and did the same with Ulrich. His eyes didn't hurt anymore either. "Jeremy, do you think you could try to debug us so we can see again? Hey Einstein, where are you?"

(V)

Jeremy heard his friends, their voices pounding incessantly against his brain with severe backlash. His eyes were like glassy marbles. But he had to answer them, tell them what happened.

"The lights," he said through gritted teeth. The two words had to be ripped from him. He could hardly stand it! "They're—" He couldn't finish. His head was going to explode!

The blonde boy slid to the floor, his headphones coming off.

No, the coordinates for the return trip...if there was one. His hand felt the keypad and with scattered thoughts and pieces of memory he managed to place the right ones in. Hopefully...

(V)

"Jeremy!" Odd repeated. His friend was silent. "Not now! I sure hope he's okay. Where is Aelita?" He tried to scan the horizon, but everything beyond a few yards was indistinct. "Hey, I think I see something. Aelita, we're over here!"

The virtual girl changed direction and came closer. There was a monster on her tail, a big one. Probably a Krab. It had fallen behind, but wasn't being shaken. Odd could hardly tell which was which until they were practically right in front of him.

"What's wrong?" She had never seen her friends behaving so...tired in Lyoko. Especially with a battle at hand.

Odd let go of his friends. "Draw your weapons. I don't know if I can take it down, but we'll have to trick it into thinking we can."

Ulrich and Janika did as they were directed, he drawing his saber and she a pair of ninja stars. Aelita reached them finally. She didn't completely understand what was happening, but at Odd's order, she took cover behind them.

"Aelita, tell me how to dodge this thing. I can't see it very well." She gave her affirmation as he charged forward.

The Krab powered up its laser and fired. Odd dove to the left and rolled, crouching on all fours. A laser arrow clipped his enemy's foreleg, but there was hardly any damage done. At least he knew where the doggone thing's head was now, but he couldn't see the symbol unless he got even closer.

Aelita called out a warning just in time and her friend managed to evade again. He leaped to his feet and converged on the metal creature. It powered up a third time and this time did not miss. The force of the blow threw him to the ground. With agonizing slowness Odd rose weakly to his feet. Spots of white flickered across his foggy vision and his ears were ringing, making everything worse.

The Krab was coming closer. It aimed straight at him, ready to impart the final stroke, when Odd suddenly raised his arm and fired into its glowing eyes. It was like plugging up the barrel of a gun and pulling the trigger: the Krab's metallic body shuddered as it exploded from the inside out.

He heard Aelita scream just as another beam struck. Janika was lying on top of her two friends, protecting them. She took a hit in the back, her skin sparking. A Block had come out of hiding and had its sights set on the helpless ones.

No sooner had Odd stood up to assist them than Janika's throwing star pierced the Block's eye, nuking it. He ran over and helped her up.

"How did you do that? I thought you couldn't see."

Her feline ears twitched. "I heard its joints as it moved. I knew it was looking straight at us, so its vulnerable spot would be directly in line with me. Since the land is pretty flat hereabouts I had no trouble with the terrain." She stared blankly in his direction. "I'm not _completely_ helpless. Now are we just going to stand here or what?"

**See! See! Janika's good for something. I want reviews and you won't read the last chapter until I get them!**


	7. Leapfrog

**3-7: Leapfrog**

**Last chapter! After this comes Episode 4: Junction. Stay tuned (or else!)**

(((-7-)))

Since the pink-haired girl was the only one who could see straight, she caught sight of their destination first. The panther-like boy saw something, but couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Is there a particular reason the Tower is on top of a mountain?" Odd wondered, burned out.

"It's not a mountain, Odd. Those are platforms rising above the desert floor. They're like stepping-stones." She paused as they were approaching it. "Should we all climb up or leave Ulrich and Janika here?"

"Hey, I have an opinion too, you know!" the sassy brown-haired cheetah said angrily. "Anything could happen on the way. I _can_ climb and I _will!_"

Aelita shrugged and led the two sightless cripples toward the Tower.

The platforms were suspended within easy jumping distance of each other and they spiraled up toward the Tower on the highest island. Odd leaped to the first one and reached down to give Ulrich a hand. He grasped his friend's arm and hauled him up, doing the same with Aelita and Janika.

As the dark-haired girl teetered on the edge he pulled her closer to the center and held her there to make sure she was steady. "Uh, Odd? You can let go of me now. I think I'm safe."

"Oh, sorry." He noticed the island they were standing on was glowing slightly. "Aelita, why is this big rock glowing?"

Ulrich was kneeling. "It's shaking too. Is something wrong with it?"

Aelita jerked Ulrich up and shouted, "It's going to fall! Jump to the next one!"

Odd grabbed Janika again and sprang to the second island. "Ulrich, can you try to make the distance?"

The samurai smiled in reply. "Just keep talking, buddy." He took Aelita's hand. "Tell me when to jump."

She gulped and they made a running start. He heard Odd shouting something and the ground shook under his feet. Both friends cried out at the same time and he cleared the gap he could not see. Odd caught him to keep Ulrich from landing flat on his face. He heard the platform crash into the ground behind them.

"We're going to have to speed things up. I'm not too keen about this place."

Each island started to glow and shudder as soon as they touched it. They had little more than a minute to reach the next one before it collapsed. They wound their way slowly upward in a spiral, the way back disappearing.

The four friends were nearly to the top when Odd stopped. His foggy, distorted vision seemed to clear for a moment as though through a pane of distorted glass. _Lasers struck the platform around Aelita as Ulrich was devirtualized. Two Hornets buzzed close by, firing with precise aim. She screamed as one struck her in the chest, pushing her toward the edge._

"Aelita, look out!" Odd yelled as his Anticipation left its mark.

The girl with strawberry-colored hair had just reached the next platform with Ulrich when the two Hornets came zooming in. Lances of energy pierced the digital covering of the virtual island and focused on Aelita! She cried out, falling back.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich yelled. His doubles appeared and they all huddled around Aelita, protecting her. Odd grabbed Janika around the waist and took a running leap for the next island, barely making it. Both copies had vanished already. Taking aim, the purple archer fired off a volley and shooed the menaces further away, but not before Ulrich had vanished.

A stray laser struck Aelita, knocking her back toward the edge of the island! Janika heard her friend's cry and lunged forward to seize her leg as she was going over. The AI hung upside-down, staring at the ground far below while the cheetah-girl strained to hold on. Odd fired wildly to scare the Hornets away before running over to help Aelita.

She was breathing hard. "I'm not sure we can make it."

They still had a full circle of platforms to go before reaching the Tower and the Hornets were hovering just out of reach. With one hazy look at the height of the islands above him, Odd made a decision. "Aelita, get ready to make a run for the Tower."

"What?"

Instead of answering, Odd took hold of her waist and swung her straight up at the final platform. She sailed through the air and landed on the rock, nearly sliding off the other side, but she caught the edge and clung on. The Hornets tried to attack, but Odd's laser arrows kept them at bay. He could hardly distinguish them against the stark white sky, but he did his best.

Aelita leaped the last hurdle and raced toward the Tower. The Hornets had gotten out of Odd's range and were zeroing in on her. A laser blasted her in the back just as she faded through the wall. She fell to the floor of the Tower and struggled back up. The symbol in the center glowed as she approached.

Odd felt the platform shudder dangerously. It would fall any second now, but he was too exhausted to go any farther. Janika clutched his arm.

"I hope she makes it. I'm sorry you read what I said about you in my diary. It's not really like that."

He raised his eyebrows. "Er...what was it?"

The island suddenly plummeted toward the desert floor. During the free-fall Janika's face turned red as he continued to hold onto her. Apparently Sissy hadn't put it in the paper.

"Nothing."

Aelita entered the code and the past became the present...

(V)

Sissy saw the lonely bookbag sitting on the bench. With an evil grin she grabbed the handles and ran. Unfortunately, she ran straight into the gang.

"Thank you, cuz," Janika said as she deftly plucked it out of the other girl's arms.

Ulrich smirked slightly and Yumi giggled. Sissy tried to look pleasant. "I was just going to return it to you, Nika. You really shouldn't leave your things lying around. Anyone could just pick them up." She smiled forcefully and walked off muttering, "_So_ close."

Odd placed his hand on Yumi's shoulder. "So I guess you weren't too upset about Janika having a crush on Ulrich, huh?"

Jeremy covered his eyes and Ulrich gawked while Janika shrank back from Yumi's smoldering glare. She bristled like a porcupine. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?"

**Hoo boy! You can guess how relations between _those_ two are going to be in future episodes. Review-review-review!  
****Hey, _Half-Kittie_! Just wanted to let you know I dedicated this chappie to you and _Dantheman7777_ since you're both so nice. _The Bringer of Good Cheer_ also deserves a round of applause, so give him one (he's a little sensitive!)**


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